SUNNYVALE, CA — (Marketwire) — 08/08/11 — Blue Coat Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BCSI), a leading provider of and solutions, today announced that has identified a new variant of a fake anti-virus attack that uses Web advertisements to relay users into the Shnakule network, which is currently the largest and most effective Malware Delivery Network on the Internet. The Blue Coat® service identified the fake anti-virus payloads as malware and automatically blocked them, protecting 75 million customers worldwide.
The Shnakule network has averaged around 2,000 unique host names per day with as many as 4,357 in a single day. On an average day, the WebPulse service logs more than 21,000 requests into that network. Shnakule has been very active with fake anti-virus attacks typically conducted via search engine poisoning. With this latest attack, it is now using malvertising to conduct its attacks. To date, the Blue Coat WebPulse service has identified more than 15,000 user requests related to the latest form of the attack.
The latest Shnakule attack is a three-staged attack that utilizes malicious Web advertisements. In the first stage, malicious ad servers were set up as independent entities, not directly associated with each other or any existing Shnakule sub-networks, to route users to malware. In the second stage, a new Shnakule subnetwork relays users to the malware. The final stage is the malware payload, which changes frequently in an attempt to avoid detection from anti-virus software. The malware payload comes from servers that have already been identified by WebPulse as part of the Shnakule Malware Delivery Network. Because of its visibility into the Shnakule network, the Blue Coat WebPulse service was already blocking the malware payload before the attack was launched.
“Though this attack initially launched in late June, it is still continuing, and in a recent check of the payload by Blue Coat Security Labs against 43 anti-virus engines only two of those engines identified the payload as malicious or suspicious,” said Chris Larsen, senior malware researcher for Blue Coat Systems. “Web-based malware changes far too quickly these days for traditional single-layer defenses like anti-virus to keep pace. The most successful defense against this type of attack is one like WebPulse that can correlate the evidence and automatically identify and block the network responsible, regardless of how the payload is encrypted.”
In the current attack, none of the rogue ad servers appears by name in the pages that host its ads, indicating that the victimized legitimate sites are not directly using these ad servers. Each of the rogue ad servers had been set up with different registrars at least a month prior to launching the attack, which was long enough to successfully convince Web advertising companies that they were serving legitimate ads.
The Blue Coat WebPulse service is a collaborative defense that provides proactive threat protection for 75 million users worldwide. With more than three billion requests per week, WebPulse has a comprehensive view of user activity on the Web. By correlating dynamic lures with relays and malware payloads, Blue Coat can identify and block Malware Delivery Networks and the future attacks they launch.
Blue Coat Systems is a leading provider of Web security and WAN optimization solutions. Blue Coat offers solutions that provide the visibility, acceleration and security required to optimize and secure the flow of information to any user, on any network, anywhere. This application intelligence enables enterprises to tightly align network investments with business requirements, speed decision making and secure business applications for long-term competitive advantage. Blue Coat also offers service provider solutions for managed security and WAN optimization, as well as carrier-grade caching solutions to save on bandwidth and enhance the end-user Web experience. For additional information, please visit .
Blue Coat, WebPulse and the Blue Coat logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Blue Coat Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.
Jennifer Ruzicka
Blue Coat Systems
408-541-3330
Danielle Ostrovsky
Merritt Group
703-390-1537
Jane Underwood
Blue Coat Systems
408-541-3015
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